4 AM is not Sugawara Koushi's Favourite Time
by Andramion
Summary: For a moment he blinks at the man on the floor, flat on his ass and hands covering his face, but he recognises the short, dark hair and the white emblem on the sleeve of his jacket. "Daichi?"


It's 4.17AM when Koushi groggily turns the alarm clock on his bedside table towards him and squints at the red lights until they focus into actual numbers. The first thing he thinks is _it's way too goddamn early_ and the second thought ( _why am I awake?_ ) comes a little while later.

Even though nobody has ever said anything about it to him, Sugawara Koushi is not a morning person. Especially not a 4am person. The only reason he managed to get through his morning classes in uni with a pleasant smile instead of a scowl, was the damn good coffee shop just off campus.

It'd been better in high school, when he had the time it took him to finish his paper round to wake up properly before he had to go to morning practice. Now, the idea that he was going at it at seven in the morning makes him think that maybe that thing about your whole body renewing itself every seven years is true and he just happened to get a new body that wasn't meant to be awake before eight.

He turns over in his bed and presses his face into the cold second pillow, sighing against the fabric, when he hears a soft thud and that second though drifts back.

He sits up, cocks his head, listens.

There's a shuffling sound in the hallway and he can hear the door click shut.

Koushi is wide awake now.

He slides out of bed quietly, wincing when his feet hit the cold hardwood floor and he toes around until he manages to work on his slippers. He's not sure what to do yet. One quick glance around his bedroom, eyes half-adjusted to the darkness, teaches him that the best weapon in here is probably the damn alarm clock and he's pretty sure he won't even be able to pull of the kind of martial arts moves he's imagining himself doing with it.

The wall feels rough against his skin when he pushes up against it, right next to the bedroom door. There are three meters between the entryway and his bedroom and whoever wants to make their way further into his apartment has to pass by here.

He listens for the footsteps, waits for them to come closer before he swings his door open fast and feels it hit resistance on the other side. He hears the intruder grunt and uses this moment to dash to his front door. When he looks over his shoulder though, he sees who exactly this burglar is.

For a moment he blinks at the man on the floor, flat on his ass and hands covering his face, but he recognises the short, dark hair and the white emblem on the sleeve of his jacket.

"Daichi?"

There's another groan and this time Koushi rushes the other way, pushing his bedroom door shut again, out of the way, and squats down next to Daichi, putting a hand on his shoulder as he feels himself flush out of embarrassment.

"Daichi, hey, are you okay?" He softly touches the tips of his fingers to the hand pressed to Daichi's face and tries to get him to lower it. It takes a few little tugs before he does.

Daichi sounds slightly confused when he mumbles what sounds like "Suga?".

Koushi frowns for a second before he spots a dark trickle above Daichi's eyebrow. "Oh god, Daichi, you're bleeding."

It's not _that_ bad, but Koushi drags Daichi up and sits him down on one of the kitchen chairs anyway, making sure he's leaning against the back of it before he grabs a fresh tea towel from the cabinet under the sink and wets it.

Daichi's forehead is bright red when Koushi crouches down in front of him, one hand on Daichi's knee as he uses the other to softly press the cold cloth to his face, dabbing the tiny trickle of blood away to reveal the small tear in Daichi's skin where the edge of the door must have hit him.

"Shit, I'm so sorry, does it hurt much?" Koushi wants to cringe as soon as he says it, because he _knows_ it has to.

"It's okay," Daichi tells him, in that same kind of mumbling way as before. His hand comes up and his fingers slip in between Koushi's as his palm covers the back of Koushi's hand and Daichi moves the towel a bit.

Then he opens his eyes and after a few blinks, they settle on Koushi's. "Suga?" he asks again and Koushi's really starting to worry now. What if he gave Daichi a concussion? What if he _damaged_ something?

"Yeah, it's me," he answers him, nervousness making his voice shake a little. But then Daichi sighs against the feeling of the cool fabric against his skin and Koushi can smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Hey, Daichi," he starts, waiting for the other man to look him in the eye again before he continues. "I thought you were out with your Tokyo buddies tonight? Weren't you going to sleep at Kuroo-kun's because Bokuto-san is in town?"

"Yeah," Daichi answers and he lowers his hand, taking Koushi's and the towel with it. He doesn't let go, though.

Koushi waits a moment, but when it's clear Daichi isn't really going to tell him more, he tries again.

"So why are you here, Daichi?"

Daichi sits up a little straighter now, looks over at the stove and furrows his brow as he thinks. "Those two dropped me off here. Kuroo… he said I should tell you. I promised him." He hums, clearly satisfied with his answer, even though Koushi has no idea what Daichi is talking about.

Koushi shakes his head and removes his hand from Daichi's as he stands up. "Come on, let's just put you to bed here and I'll text Kuroo-kun that you got here safely. Alright, up you go."

Daichi isn't as heavy as Koushi expected him to be, which means he's not as _drunk_ as Koushi thought he was, as he supports him through the hallway and to the bedroom. Instead of dropping him to the bed like Daichi suggests, Koushi makes him sit upright against the headboard and leans over to work on his shoelaces.

"Suga," Daichi calls his name again, just as Koushi's worked the knot on Daichi's left shoe loose. "I have to tell you."

"You're fine, you can tell me tomorrow instead, Daichi. Could you hold still for a second, I'm trying to get y-"

"I love you, Suga."

Koushi's fingers still in the middle of their task, his whole body going tense.

"Daichi," he starts, straightening up and looking over to where Daichi, inebriated but with surprisingly determined eyes, stares at him.

"I love you, Suga," Daichi repeats and Koushi feels his cheeks flush as he leans in and presses a soft kiss to Daichi's cheek.

"Daichi, you're drunk and hurt and I think you should sleep."

A flash of hurt passes on Daichi's face, but Koushi ignores it in favour of getting those damn shoes off already and throwing the blanket over Daichi's legs.

They're both quiet while Koushi brings the first aid kit into the bedroom and disinfects the small abrasion on Daichi's forehead. Koushi can feel Daichi's eyes on him the whole time.

It's when Daichi finally lies down and Koushi tries to pull the blankets up to his shoulders that Daichi drags Koushi down into a hug, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto the bed with Daichi.

He can feel Daichi's lips against his skin when he repeats those words again. "Suga, I love you."

Koushi wriggles, manages to create at least a little space between the two of them so he can look Daichi in the eye.

"Daichi, is that what you promised you'd tell me?"

Daichi frowns. "I was talking about you and… Kuroo and Bokuto said that if I love you so much I should tell you."

Koushi just stares at him for a while before reaching past Daichi to grab his phone off the night stand and holding a finger up at Daichi as the line connects.

"Sawamura!"

"No, it's Suga. I just wanted to tell you Daichi got here safe." Koushi can hear Kuroo telling Bokuto it's not Daichi on the phone and Bokuto's way too loud _Suga-kuuuuuuuuun_ in the background.

"Yeah, he was kind of being a buzzkill with his constant Suga-this, Suga-that so we thought he should probably be telling you how amazing he thinks you are, instead of us."

Koushi tries to keep his laugh in and sound reprimanding. "You could have at least seen him in."

"He had the keys on him and we waited until we saw him on the balcony in front of your door before we left, don't worry."

Daichi's eyes are starting to droop, so Koushi cuts the conversation short. "Well, thanks for seeing him here, I guess."

"Yeah man, no problem. See you tomorrow!"

Koushi startles at the sudden loud _SEE YOU_ that Bokuto shouts into his ear before the connection breaks, but he can't help being a little thankful that Kuroo is a lot more responsible than he looks.

He puts the phone away and pokes Daichi's cheek. His eyes open slowly and take some time to focus.

"What have those two been making you drink?" he asks, not really expecting a reply, but Daichi puts his finger up, supporting his elbow with his other hand like he's trying to answer a question in class.

Koushi bites his lip and he motions for Daichi to tell him.

"Alcohol."

This time Koushi can't suppress his laughter and he buries his face in Daichi's shoulder as he giggles, tired, exhausted, but a lot less grumpy than a quarter to five in the morning would normally ever leave him.

Daichi's arm tightens around Koushi's waist and Koushi doesn't know if he wants to stay like this or snuggle under the blankets first.

"Suga, can you answer me?" Daichi asks when Koushi's calmed down again. "I said I love you, what about you?"

"Are you serious?" Koushi asks him and when Daichi's expression doesn't change, Koushi laughs again. "Look at your right hand, Daichi."

Daichi lifts his free hand and frowns at it, not getting what Koushi means.

"Your other right hand."

Koushi holds himself up on his elbow so Daichi's arm can slip out from under him. He runs a finger under the chain of his necklace to pull it out from under his PJs.

Daichi is staring at the ring on his hand.

"Look here, Daichi." Koushi shows off the ring on the necklace and a smile breaks through on Daichi's face. "You're really far gone tonight, huh?"

"Su-," Daichi shakes his head and corrects himself, "Koushi."

A little shiver of pleasure runs down Koushi's spine at the way Daichi's mouth moves around the sound of his name. He leans in and presses his lips against Daichi's, feeling Daichi's arms close around him again as he's pulled closer. It reminds Koushi of the first time Daichi kissed him, soft, slow and steady, and Koushi carefully brushes his hand over Daichi's hair until he can rest it against the back of his neck.

He smiles when they pull back again, pecks Daichi's mouth one more time.

"You should really sleep. Let me just grab a glass of water for when you wake up, alright?"

He puts the first-aid kit away and decides to take a strip of aspirin tablets back into the bedroom with him too. By the time he returns and crawls under the blankets, Daichi is already asleep.

Koushi looks at Daichi's forehead one more time before he lies down and rests his head on Daichi's arm, one hand on his chest and a leg thrown over Daichi's hips.

"I love you too, numbnut," he tells him, smiling against Daichi's shirt and closing his own eyes.

He'd been expecting to spend the whole night alone, and though Koushi is definitely not a morning person, he's more than happy at 5 AM, with Daichi right where he likes him most.

 _Home._


End file.
